Why Are You Making Me Do This: Anaerobic Training is Awesome!

Hola Interwebs!

Not Fun... But Worth It!

I’m so super excited because for 2 weeks now I have had requests for my blog topics. That means you all are reading and want more. It makes me so happy I could explode!!!! However, this feeling of impending explosion could also be due to too much caffeine consumption this afternoon.

 Today’s topic is all about anaerobic training. That horrible high intensity, chest burning, back sweating, heart rate pumping, “I’m gonna puke” exercise I know you all love.

I’m a huge believer of the benefits of anaerobic training (eliciting fear in all those that train with Byn),

those of which I will discuss in a moment, but first things first….

What the Potatoes is Anaerobic Training?!

In the world of exercise, scientists have come up with two different training terms: Anaerobic and Aerobic Training. Without writing a novel, what these words refer two is the predominant energy supplying metabolic system in dominance during a given physical activity.

Aerobic training occurs when you are doing cardiovascular activity below 80% of your V02max*. This means you are not exerting your maximum effort, but you are still working. I tell my clients when trying to stay in their aerobic zone to work at a level 6 or 7 out of 10, with 10 being all out effort, like sprinting. During aerobic training your body is using metabolic systems that require oxygen to produce energy (Think aer = air!).

 Now, it is important to understand that our metabolic systems work on a scale, not an on-off switch.  This means when you are sprinting, although your anaerobic systems are dominant, your aerobic systems are still making some energy even though they are not dominant at the time.

Aerobic training has been traditionally used as the #1 type of training for improving our cardiovascular (CV) system (e.g. your heart and lungs). However, as you will see later in this post, recent research is challenging our previous conceptions in regards to what is the best type of training for CV health.

Anaerobic Training, which is the topic of this post, occurs when you are exerting all out (or near all out) effort while exercising. I tell my clients to work at a level 8 or higher out of 10, which essentially is at a level that is less than fun! Some common names for anaerobic training in the fitness world include (but are not limited to) Fartlek, Interval, High Intensity Interval and Sprint Training.

Now, at high intensity exercise the dominant energy making systems in our body do not require oxygen to work. However, because this type of training is much more energy demanding we unfortunately do not last as long as we would during aerobic training.

So why train anaerobically if it sucks so much, we can’t do it as long and it….sucks? Good question internets!

*V02max: a measure of how hard your cardiovascular system is working during exercise.  For example, if you are working at 100% of your V02max you are exerting maximal effort.

Why Should I Put Myself Through Anaerobic Training?

Because I said so….

Seriously though, there is a whole bunch of benefits from this training that the wonderful exercise physiologists have been uncovering in the last 10-20 years.

So I don’t ramble on and on I’m going to break the benefits down into the following;

A.      Physiological Benefits

B.      Metabolic Benefits

C.      Performance Benefits

So you think I’m not talking out of my well toned butt, I will be providing the names of the researchers and resources I retrieved this information from. For you phys kids out there, if you want the full articles just let me know.

Part A: Physiological Benefits of Anaerobic Training

When talking physiology, there are many different things researchers look for to see if a type of training is beneficial.  These include important metabolic enzymes, membrane transporters and pH .

Enzymes: 

Without boring you with too much exercise physiology, anaerobic training (e.g. sprint interval training) has been shown to increase the amount of key metabolic enzymes required for energy production (Iaia et al., 2007; MacDougall et al.. 1998).

Now what does this mean? Well, essentially the more enzymes you have the more energy you can make during exercise through important chemical reactions. This means you will be able to work harder, longer and stronger.

The exciting thing is though, anaerobic training does not only increase anaerobic enzymes like PFK, it also increases key enzymes used is AEROBIC exercise, like citrate synthetase. This is important because not only will this help you perform better in short, high intensity exercises, but longer lasting exercises like running or biking…cool huh! I think so.

Membrane Transporters:

I tried to draw a diagram in paint to help me explain this, but it was horrible so no drawing for you! Imagine a muscle, to help you with this get a steak from your freezer and put it in front of you. Now, on the surface of each muscle fiber (which are the little lines you can see in the steak) are cells.

If we get even smaller (use your right brain here people), on the surface of each sack like muscle cell are membranes and on the membranes are transporters, which are like doors that let things in and out of the cells.

Every cell in our body has a variety of different membrane transporters, and for myocytes (or muscle cells) a really important transporter is the sodium-potassium transporter (Na⁺-K⁺ Transporters).

These doors help our muscles contract, which help us move and physiologists think one of the major reasons we fatigue (or get tired) during exercise is because these transporters can’t keep up with the contraction demand we are putting on our muscles.

Well, anaerobic training increases the number of these Na⁺-K⁺ Transporters (Iaia et al., 2007; MacDougall et al.. 1998), which allows muscle cells to keep up with the demand being placed on them during exercise. This helps you last longer, work harder, faster and stronger!

pH

pH refers to the amount of hydrogen ions in a given system, like our body. Most people know (if you didn’t don’t worry now you do), that exercise causes our bodies to become more acidic (i.e greater concentration of hydrogen ions)

Some trainers will refer to this as lactic acid build up, this is a misconception as it’s not lactic acid itself that is causing the body to be acidic, but hydrogen ions (H⁺), which is one of the byproducts of metabolism.

The problem with too much hydrogen in your system is that is causes everything to mess up from your enzymes, to your transporters and proteins. So, theoretically when we get acidic, like during high intensity exercise, we get tired because our bodies aren’t working efficiently.

Those that have completed an anaerobic training protocol have been found to have a better post exercise pH than control groups AND aerobic training groups after exercise (MacDougall, 1998). Physiologists aren’t 100% why this is happening (it’s not because of buffering apparently phys kids).

So, anaerobic training allows your body to have less hydrogen ions post exercise, which means your body is coping with the stress of exercise more effectively.

Part B: Metabolic Benefits

The metabolic benefits of anaerobic training are highly correlated to the benefits discussed in Part A. Anaerobic training causes your body to work more efficiently metabolically during and post exercise, which as aforementioned, allows you to work harder.

Now the ability to work harder lets you burn more calories while you’re working out. This will ultimately lead to an increase in fat loss if your diet is sound, because the higher the caloric deficit your body is in, the more fat you metabolize.

Don’t get me wrong, aerobic training will also burn calories. However, anaerobic training has been shown to burn up to twice the amount of calories in much less time then aerobic training (ACSM). For example, if you go for a 45 minute run at the same pace you would burn the same, if not less calories than 25 minutes of high intensity interval training. If you’re like me, time is an issue when working out. So I would much rather burn a whole bunch of calories in 25 minutes than 45 minutes

Part C: Performance

Anaerobic training has been shown to have a direct correlation to increases in performance in a variety of activities from running to biking to swimming. There are many reasons for this (a lot of them are mentioned above), but I think not only does anaerobic training help people physiologically but also psychologically.

Train hard for mind and body!

From personal experience, the more high intensity training I do, the better I can cope with high stress situations during performance. I attribute this to being “used” to being uncomfortable during my training which translates over to other activities.

For example, I rock climb, and rock climbing requires a huge amount of relaxation when your body is under a lot of physical stress. I find my high intensity training on the treadmill or bike is a perfect and controlled environment to practice relaxing my mind when I am really uncomfortable so that I can do it when it counts.

I may be biased, as I always think “mind over matter”, but I think this is one of the key benefits anaerobic training has in regard to performance… it makes you mentally tough.

Examples of Anaerobic Training

There are lots of ways you can anaerobically train, all you need is the basic format and a little imagination. Generally, interval training consists of;

●      High intensity intervals over 80% of you maximum effort.

●      Intervals lasting 30seconds-2minutes

●      Rest periods the same amount of time as the intervals or longer.

●      Repeated intervals for no longer than 25 minutes.

●      A very good dynamic warm up focusing on major muscle groups and a long (10minute plus) cool down.

●      Lots of water.

Preparation is as important as the training itself

●      A well fueled body: Do not eat within 1.5 hours of doing this training, but make sure to have a meal consisting of a quick digesting carbohydrate (banana) and some protein (nuts).

●      Your game face and a very motivating friend, trainer, music… ect.

My 3 personal favourite ways to anaerobically train are on the treadmill, the spin bike or tabatas using free body weight exercises like burpies!

On Wednesday, I will be demonstrating these three different examples (god help me) in my video blog. So stay tuned for that! I promise I’ll actually do my vlog this week. Last week was kinda of crazy with my new job.

Any questions, comments, suggestions are ALWAYS welcomed!

Stay Strong!

Byn

Your Metabolism and Cool Summer Recipes

Oh Hi There Internets!

Via request of one of my Windsor readers, I’m going to write about nutrition again this week. Specifically, I’m going to give you some quick, easily metabolism boosting recipes that do not require heat to make.  People without air conditioning in Windsor.... you’re welcome in advance.

Before giving you the recipes for this week I’d like to discuss exactly what is meant by metabolism. We silly fitness professionals like to throw this word around a lot sometimes without actually explaining what it is (most of our brains go a mile a minute).

To put a long story short, your metabolism is the amount of energy you use to live. This includes making different essential compounds for your body (anabolism) as well as burning fuels for various chemical reactions (catabolism).

If you could look at your body under a microscope you would see thousands to millions of complex chemical reactions happening all at once. These reactions allow us to move, see, think, digest and much much more...pretty cool eh?

So why is metabolism so important, especially when it comes to weight loss? Well, the more metabolic reactions that occur the more your body burns just existing, which leads to weight loss if you are in a caloric deficit for the day. To learn more about calories and how they contribute to weight loss click here.

A common myth/excuse used by those having difficulty losing weight is they have a slow metabolism. For a healthy person a slow metabolism does not exist (if you have a thyroid condition that’s another story).  So why aren’t you losing weight? Not because you have a slow metabolism, but you are not giving your body what it needs to make more chemical reactions and burn more energy.

Things that will lead to your body being more efficient from a chemical reaction standpoint are;

·         Eating: dieting is probably the worst thing you can do for your metabolism. If you think of a chemical reaction, you need stuff to start with to make a reaction. If you starve your body of the nutrients is needs, the body because less efficient chemically and you burn less energy.

·         Building Muscle: Another common misconception, especially among women, is if they gain muscle they will look bulky. Estrogen prevents us from looking masculine (unless you’re taking steroids), so fear not the dumbbell. The reason you want the most muscle you can have on your body is because this will increase the number of chemical reactions happening, as each muscle fibre needs hundreds of chemical reactions to exist and move.

·         Focusing on Nutritious Foods High in Vitamins: This kind of goes along with the first point. Yes, you need to eat to keep those reactions going, but you also have to be cognisant of what you’re feeding your body. If you eat potato chips all day, yes you are getting enough calories but you are not providing your body with the essential components to fuel these reactions, leading to less caloric burn-age. Vitamins are not only important because your mom says so, but because they help these little worker proteins call enzymes speed up (catalyzed) your metabolic reactions!

·         Drink Water: Drinking lots of water is very important to keep your chemistry going in the right direction. As you know, we are made up of a lot of water, and there is a reason for this, we need to exist... and existing is making sure all those reactions run smoothly and in the right direction. Replenishing water to the body is very very important as metabolic reactions often use a lot of water.

There you go! That’s the quick and dirty on your metabolism. If you’d like to learn more feel free to ask me lots of questions, I will answer them I promise.

Now for the good stuff. Here’s some recipes you can make without heat that will help your body more efficiently. Most (if not all) of the ingredients in the following have been shown to be great for metabolic reactions.

Spinach Super Food Salad

Ingredients

·         2 Cups of Spinach/Baby Spinach

·         8-10 Unsalted Almonds

·         ½ cup of Bean Sprouts

·         1 handful of blueberries

·         Cherrie tomatoes

·         2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil

·         Salt

Wash all of the vegetables. In a bowl add the spinach, almonds, bean sprouts, blueberries and cherrie tomatoes. Pour the EVOO on the vegetables and salt. Enjoy!

Body Boosting Shake

Ingredients

·         ½ cup of soy milk (flavoured optional)

·         ½ cup of ice

·         ½ cup of blue berries

·         ½ cup of apples

·         ¼ of grapefruit juice (NOT from concentrate)

·         Whey Protein (optional)

In a blender crush ice. Then add soy milk, blueberries, apples, grapefruit juice and protein. Blend until smooth!

And for those of you with a little more time on your hands

Sprouted Buckwheat Granola (found on fromsadtoraw.com)

Ingredients:

·         Spouted buckwheat

·         Sprouted millet

·         Sprouted amaranth

·         Sprouted quinoa

·         Soaked sesame seeds

·         Soaked flax seeds

·         Soaked currants

·         Soaked yellow raisins

·         Soaked walnuts

·         Freeze-dried Coconut

·         Sprouted pumpkin seeds

·         Sprouted sunflower seeds

·         A little oil of choice (macadamia, almond, olive)

·         Diced Fresh Strawberries

·         Any berry of choice

·         sea salt

·         Vanilla

·         Maple Syrup or Sucanat

Sprout grains for 2 days. Soak seeds for a few hours. Soak Dried Fruit for about 30 minutes  then mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, stirring well with a large spoon. Place a thick layer of about 1/2" on mesh dehydrator sheet.  Dehydrate until crunchy - about 12-14 hours.  Serve with fresh nut milk or soymilk.

So there you go! Stay tuned for Wednesday Vlog where I give you an awesome fat burning circuit!

As always, questions and comments are greatly appreciated.

Stay Strong Internets!

Byn <3

Motivation Vlog!

Hello Internets!

Here is my vlog for this week. It is an extension of Sunday's blog.

Stay Strong!

Byn

The Psychology of Exercise: Self Determination/Motivation

Good Sunday Internets

This week we are going to start to explore the world of the psychology of exercise, motivation, self esteem and behaviour change.

As some of you may know, this topic is what gets me out of bed in the morning (no pun intended). Don’t get me wrong, I love program design, working out and nutrition, but where my passion really lies (or at least at the moment) is why we do what we do and what keeps us doing it.

So there are a lot of theories out there on why people are physically active, why they continue to be physically active and how to get those who are not physically active to start.

For this blog, which I will consider part 1 of many parts to come, I am going to focus on Self Determination. Hopefully this will help some of you understand the underlying processes of becoming and staying motivated while on the journey to living a healthier lifestyle.

Note: there are many many many other theories out there, but I’m just going to touch on this one at the moment because you’ll be reading for 5 years if I carry on.

Motivation Trouble

Self Determination:

This theory is basically the theory of motivation itself. So what is motivation? Well it means a lot of things to a lot of people, but I think we can agree that motivation is when we are influenced either by external (outside) or internal (inside) forces to start, perform and continue doing something, for example running.

So how does one become self determined to exercise? Well that’s an excellent question! A lot of researchers have put a lot of time in to determining the answer to this question. From my readings I’ve come to the conclusion that it seems to be specific to the individual or exercise group. This is not a one size fits all world, especially when it comes to motivational psychology.

However, rather than leave you in the dark about how to become self determined to perform and keep performing your activity of interest, I will give you two important ideas of how to become motivated.

1.       Focus on Aesthetic Goals Initially:  If you have never worked out before, research suggests this is the #1 motivation to start becoming physically active.

 It goes against pretty much everything I believe in when it comes to physical activity, but let’s be honest here, people in general are not (or at least seem not) to be inherently motivated to exercise. If they were we wouldn’t have over 50% of the Canadian population not meeting the daily requirements for physical activity.

Research has shown that the internal motivation (i.e. not aesthetic or external rewards) will come once one has become engaged and continues to work towards initial external goals.

So if you are a new exercise set yourself an obtainable, measurable short term and long term aesthetic goal. Take the steps to first reach that short term goal, and then work towards the long term goal. However, be cognisant of how you start to feel internally about exercise while on your journey. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised.

2.       Focus on Fulfilling Your 3 Psychosocial Needs:  Motivational Psychology researchers have purposed that we have three psychosocial needs that need to be met in order to become motivated to initiate, perform and continue to exercise. These are;

1.       Competency: This need is essentially that we want to interact effectively with our environment. If you think about this from an exercise stand point it makes a lot of sense. You are not going to want to continue to exercise if you feel like you suck at it!

So how do you get to a place where you feel effective and competent in an exercise setting? You get help of course! I find our ego gets in the way sometimes, which makes us hesitant to admit we need help. People will also come up with excuses to mask the fact that they don’t know what they’re doing to protect this ego. For example, “exercise is too expensive”, “I don’t have time” or “I don’t like sweat”.

So drop the excuses, admit you were not born with all the exercise knowledge known to man and get some help! This doesn’t have to be an expensive process. The interwebs has lots of quality information out there if you look for it.

Another good way to feel competent about working out is to join a class! This also does not have to be expensive, as many Universities allow community members to join their classes for very cheap. This way you will have quality instruction to help you to become more comfortable working out.

2.       Relatedness: This is the need to feel part of a group or important to other people. A good fitness instructor will facilitate this within their classes by using techniques such as team building.

However, you can also take charge of your own life and make sure you fulfill this need while being physically active yourself! For example, get your family or friends involved in being physically active. By doing this, you will be more self determined to initiate physical activity and so will your significant others.

You can also find others who are already on the right track if you feel that at this point in your life you are not ready to take charge and step into a leadership role. There are many self determined people within the community that are not fitness instructors or personal trainers that can help. To find them I suggest joining a walking, running, biking, swimming....ect club. Make friends and use them as your leaders on the road to becoming motivated to make healthier lifestyle choices.

3.       Autonomy: This is the third and final need that needs to be fulfilled to become self determined. Autonomy is the desire to be self regulating in one’s own actions.

This also makes a lot of sense when thinking about how to be motivated. Of course you are going to be more motivated to do something if you feel you are in control of what you are doing. Let’s look a little deeper at this need though...

Say you get a personal trainer, which a lot of new exercisers do, and they are very overbearing, which can happen. You choose this trainer because of their no-nonsense, tough love demeanour because that’s what you think you need... someone to kick your butt and take no excuses.



Make Sure Your Trainer Understands Your Needs



However, with a trainer like this you can easily fall into feeling like you don’t have control over your workouts, which has been shown to be de-motivating.

So, when choosing a fitness professional, ask them how they are going to help you fulfill your autonomous need to keep you motivated. If they draw a blank, I suggest moving on.

Now, to fulfill this need without a professional just make sure the activity you are doing is your own idea and you enjoy it. Now, even though you didn’t invent P90X, if you actively choose to do it and enjoy it you are fulfilling you need for autonomy.

On the other hand, if you start running because you think that’s what you are suppose to do, or will lose weight the fastest, but you hate every minute of it, you’re setting yourself up to fall off the wagon again.

So there you go! I hope this post has been enlightening for you. The reason I am writing about psychology is because the more you know, the more you can identify what you do or don’t do, why that is and hopefully try and fix it.

My goal for you this week is to try using the information from this post to become a little more active. You can do this however you want, but purposely target what I’ve been talking about and see how it works for you.

This week’s Vlog will also focus on motivation, so stay tuned for that.

As always, comments, suggestions and questions are very much anticipated and encouraged.

Stay Strong

Byn

Byn's Video Circuit Workout

Hello Internets!

Sorry for the delay with my Vlog this week! It has been a busy one. Here is a workout to do on the weekend with your husband, wife, kids, teenagers, dog, neighbours or buy yourself.

Have fun!

Stay Strong Internets

Byn

Oh My Goodness No Gym! No Problem

Hola Internets!

So it is the end of my first week here in Kitchener! Other than going absolutely squirrely because I am not working out of the house (I could never be a housewife), life up here is pretty nice. It’s fantastic to finally be back living with Scott. However, money is tight until I get a job so that means...duh, duh, duh..... NO GYM.

Not to worry my internet companions, Byn has more than 1 trick up her sleeve. One of them is to not require a gym to workout....or equipment for that matter. How? Body weight my friend. I got 100 and something pounds of resistance and I know how to use it!

You can stay incredibly strong just using your body weight in a combination of high volume resistance training, circuit training, cardio and yoga! So that’s what I am doing in my spare time.

“But you’re an effing personal trainer Byn! I can’t just think up workouts out of thin air”.  You may be saying this to yourself, but have you ever tried to? You know how I come up with my workouts. I search for them and use a little creativity and imagination!

Go to your google browser... type in “body weight circuit training” and see what comes up. A little slice of good workout info can be found on the YouTube channel Bodyrock.tv. Her workouts are awesome, just turn off the volume if you don’t want to listen to her moaning for 10 minutes.

I will also provide you in this blog with a quick little 30-45 minute circuit that I did last week in the apartment with a yoga mat and a chair. You have at least a chair, and a carpet or grass are basically yoga mats... so no excuses.

This circuit works everything. I was a sweaty child doing it...in air conditioning!

Byn’s Apartment Workout

Dynamic Warm Up: Jumping jacks or jock on the spot for 30sec-1 minute. Rotate hips and shoulders.

Circuit 1: 3 Exercises

·         Tuck Jumps: 15 Reps: Jump as high as you can and tuck your knees (if your unsure how to do any exercises watch Wednesday’s blog or google it)

·         Quick Squats: 30reps: weight on the heels, sit as if you were going to sit in a chair with your knees should width apart and knees do not go over the toes

·         Mountain Climbers: 50 reps: go into a plank/push up position on the floor. Move your knees to chest alternately like you’re running on the spot

·         Take a 1 minute break, grab water, repeat 2 more times for a total of 3 sets

Circuit 2:  4 Exercises

·         In Out Push Ups: 20 Reps: either straight legged or on knees (you can drop to your knees when you fatigue out in straight leg) start with hands shoulder width apart, do a push up, move hands in close to body, do a push up. Rinse and Repeat

·         Burpies: 10 Reps: Starting standing jump into the air then place your hands on the floor and thrust the legs backward so you end in a plank position. These are alternately called “squat thrusts”. Do not do push up with these.

·         Tricep Dip on Chair: Reps: Place your palms on the edge of a sturdy chair with your finger tips facing you. Drop your body by bending your elbows. Push back up to the starting position. Keep your knees bend when your feet are on the floor to make this easier, straight legs are harder.

·         Roll Under Mountain Climbers: 50: The same as the mountain climbers in circuit 1 but this time when you bring your knee up roll it under your body to the opposite shoulder.

·         Take a 2 minute break in between each set, repeat this 2 more times for a total of 3 sets

Circuit 3: 5 abdominal exercises

·         Half Sit Ups: 25 reps: Like a normal sit up, except you do not go up all the way and stop at roughly 45 degrees.

·         Jack Knives: 10 reps: lyeing on your back keeping the arms straight over your head and your legs straight, raise your arms and your legs simultaneously meeting at the middle of your body.

·         Russian Twists: 50 reps: Feet up or lightly resting on the floor, sit on your bum, lean back, clasp your hands together and twist.

·         Reverse Cruches: 20 reps: in the same position as Russian twists put your hands behind you and bring your knees to your chest and back out.

·         Leg Raises: 10 reps: placing your hands under your bum, lye down. Raise your legs into the air jeeping them as straight as possible, tilt the hips and push your feet to the ceiling. Lower the legs for one rep

·         Take a 1 minute break in between each set, repeat this 3 more times for a total of 4 sets.

So there you go... your very own awesome workout with 0 equipment. Now the motivation to do it.... hmmmmm. I’ve go some ideas.

How to Get Off the Couch and Do This!

1.       Do a load of laundry and try and finish this circuit before your laundry is finished.

2.       Invite your pal over to show them this awesome new workout you found and do it together.

3.       Make your husband/wife/kids do it for something different... in the back yard!

4.       Write me an e-mail to tell me what you thought of it and how hard it was... then I’ll give you more, that means you have to do it.

5.       Record yourself and a friend doing it and post it on my YouTube Channel as a response to Wednesday’s workout.

6.       Download some awesome new workout music and see if you can finish the workout before your playlist finishes.

7.       Give yourself a little reward for completing this workout... say a new pair of earrings or a new picture frame (something not food related).

There... wow look at all those ways to do this workout! I personally like 4 and 5.

Ok, so I think that’s it for this Sunday! Stay tuned for Wednesday’s video blog where I’m going to go to the park and do a workout for you!

Stay Strong Internets

Byn